First published 1999
The Holocaust continues to baffle minds and paralyze understanding fifty years after its occurrence. Anthropologist Inga Clendinnen attacks what she terms the "Gorgon" effect, the way horror freezes our capacity to think and act when we face this history. She examines Holocaust experiences from multiple perspectives, analyzing both victims and perpetrators. Clendinnen studies survivor accounts from writers like Primo Levi and Charlotte Delbo, investigates questions of resistance within concentration camps, and explores how survivors made sense of Nazi motivations. She applies anthropological methods to study the murderers themselves, from police battalions to SS camp personnel. The book also examines Holocaust representation in poetry, literature, and cinema. Clendinnen attempts to extract human understanding from seemingly inhuman actions, seeking what can be grasped within incomprehensible evil.
Genres: history, anthropology, non-fiction, academic
Vibes: dark, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: historical-fiction
Setting: Concentration Camps
Period: 20th Century
238 pages · Paperback · Cambridge University Press
Content warnings: death, violence